Data Centers in Space, AI Excavators & Fixing AI Slop | Philip Johnston, Boris Sofman, Spiros Xanthos

Data Centers in Space, AI Excavators & Fixing AI Slop | Philip Johnston, Boris Sofman, Spiros Xanthos

From This Week in AI by Jason Calacanis

March 11, 2026 · 1h 10m · Episode 4

About this episode

The episode discusses the intersection of AI, space, and construction technology with insights from three industry founders.

This week we sit down with three founders building at the frontier of AI in space, autonomous hardware, and software reliability: Philip Johnston (StarCloud), Boris Sofman (Bedrock Robotics), and Spiros Xanthos (Resolve AI). We dig into why data centers are heading to orbit, how AI is taking the wheel on construction sites, and whether the industry is moving too fast for its own good. We explore how physical infrastructure, real-world autonomy, and AI trust are reshaping the industry from the ground up. Sam Altman vs. Space Data Centers: He said it won't matter "this decade." But Philip breaks down why the economics of space compute are about to flip. The Construction Labor Crisis: Half the skilled workforce is retiring in the next seven years while data center construction spend hits $700B this year alone. Boris explains why autonomous excavators aren't replacing workers, they're the only way to keep up. AI Broke Amazon's Code: Generative AI is shipping software faster than engineers can understand it. Spiros warns that accelerating code velocity without upgrading reliability is a disaster waiting to happen. Automation Bias & Skill Degradation: What aviation taught…

People in this episode

Host: Jason Calacanis

Guests: Philip Johnston, Boris Sofman, Spiros Xanthos

Topics covered

  • AI in space
  • autonomous hardware
  • software reliability
  • construction technology
  • data centers
  • AI trust
  • automation bias

Keywords

  • data centers
  • AI excavators
  • construction labor crisis
  • generative AI
  • automation bias
  • AI trust
  • software reliability

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: StarCloud, Bedrock Robotics, Resolve AI, Amazon, KPMG

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